Deutsche Bahn Schenker, the freight forwarder owned by Deutsche Bahn, plans to operate an all-electric autonomous coastal container feeder line between Norway’s Ikornnes terminal and the port of Alesund.
DB Schenker and its partners, the furniture giant Ekornes and the ship design company Naval Dynamics, as well as Kongsberg (mainly producing and developing automatic monitoring and control system products in the marine field) and Massterly (the world's first unmanned ship company) , designed to replace the traditional feeder ships used on this stretch of Norwegian coast.
The 50-meter-long vessel features Naval Dynamics' NDS AutoBarge 250 concept and is intended to travel at 7.7 knots for three hours with a range of 43 kilometers. It will operate unmanned under the supervision of Massterly's remote operations center.
Kongsberg's chief executive Geir Håøy said the company was starting to see a general shift away from road freight transport, which has considerable carbon emissions, to clean, energy-efficient short-haul freight transport, which was also involved in Operation of some all-electric and autonomous vessels including Yara Birkeland.
According to DB Schenker, this will bring many benefits, including zero emissions, faster and more efficient transport, and reduced road traffic. The partnership program is approved by the Norwegian Maritime Authority and may receive government incentives for sustainability and technology.
"This unique project will mark an important step towards a greener supply chain and integrate it into our overall sustainability agenda in ocean transport. We are ambitiously working with our partners on this Take a leadership role," said Knut Eriksmoen, CEO of DB Schenker Norway.
"Using autonomous electric container carriers to pick up our stress-free products directly from our terminal in Ikernes means our carbon footprint will be significantly reduced. We will also gain better control over our own logistics and Greater flexibility," added Ekornes CEO Roger Lund.
